This crisis in the Church will serve to remind it of its primary mission - to bear witness to the Gospel.

I was a 'lapsed' Catholic who, after encountering the emptiness that lies at the heart of secular liberalism, returned to the Faith. What I found was a tradition so immensely rich in meaning, that I look forward to spending the rest of my life immersed in it.

Many Europeans may well feel the same as I - the Church has much to offer, it is premature to right it off just yet.

Religion is at heart organized superstition, and within each religion are particular organizations that fetishize specific aspects of the general case. All rely on ignorance and category error and all seek to exploit the gullible in a wide variety of ways. Therefore Europe should welcome the decline and increasing irrelevance of the Catholic church, which has been a particularly pernicious actor over the last 1,500 years. Pedophilia may be the latest scandal, but who can forget the Spanish Inquisition? Or the burning of Giordano Bruno? It is time we, as a species, outgrew our primitive habits of mind and cast off the stultifying remnants of the carcass of unreason.

I'm looking forward to the day when this journal will vociferously acuse Islam for been a murderous religion that keep its followers in absolute ignorance, as much as it, also vociferously, attacks and constantly acuse the Catholic Church for all the abuse it has comited ever since Jesus was crucified.

Catholicism is not about Christianity. Christianity is about a one on one relationship with Christ. Not worship of saints or the Virgin Mary, not praying to another human for absolving sin, not following man made interpretation of rules. You can never be excommunicated from a relationship with Christ if you truly believe. You can only be excommunicated from the religion. I think many are seeing this and, although abandoning the Catholic way, not abandoning their faith in Christ.

The Catholic Church could do well by looking at its stellar performance in my country, South Korea. Here the church has increased its membership from 5% of the population to 10% within the last 10 years, and has an extremely good reputation among the general populace (unlike some other countries). This is fairly rare for a pretty wealthy country.

How was this possible? Several reasons, but one of the most important was probably that the Catholic dogma was far more compatible with science and non-biblical explanations of the origins of the world than some other religions. However, this applies to the Church worldwide, not just Korea.

What the Korean Catholic Church did differently is that it was HUMBLE and focused on the social aspect of their teachings such as charities and education, not the doctrine. The Korean Church was not too loud in voicing its opinions in the political arena, and the last time it was, the Church was actively shielding pro-democracy activists against the military junta in the 80s (Seoul and the Vatican actually had a row over this). Priests are generally respected here because the process is highly selective, something that many countries now stopped doing. Add to this the prominence of Church-sponsored social welfare organizations, then you have a pretty good mix.

With a slight non-religious majority, South Korea is probably one of the most secular country in the world, barring its blighted cousin to the North. So when the poster-child of religion such as the Church can gain respect in this country through good work and moderation, so can churches in other countries.

In some ways this looks like a fair-enough summary of what might be happening in Europe. But it is an old critique that preceded John Paul's death. That is why the critics were stunned by the reaction to his funeral just as Napoleon was stunned by the reaction of the French people (including Josephine) when he tried to humiliate the Pope by making him attend his 'coronation' as Emperor of Europe.

One problem is that it focuses on abuses that happened 30 or 40 years ago while ignoring Vatican II, which happened at the same time, and ignores much of what has been happening since. Vatican II ushered in a period of great change to the Church and necessarily brought instability with it.

The Church addressed the causes of the sexual abuse some 20 years ago. This partly explains the current shortage of priests where the abuse was greatest, because many candidates for the priesthood are being rejected for sexual immaturity.

While all this was going on, the Church has invited disaffected scientists to join in an open pursuit of empirical truth. That kicked off the anti-clericals in a big way.

Finally, it says something about The Economist's world view that it regards Poland and the Netherlands as the "periphery", presumably of Europe. It certainly is not the periphery of the Roman Catholic Church although it is a little hard to work out where that might be. China perhaps? There are about 30 million Roman, as distinct from 'Patriotic', Catholics in China despite active and violent repression by the State. It would be truer, given the Church's growth in places like Nigeria, Uganda, the Philippines, South Korea, South America and China to conclude that the Church has no periphery.

Cleaning out the muck left by the paedophiles and abusers of the past, working out the implications of Vatican II, re-engaging disaffected sections of the scientific community and experiencing the aridity of the secular wasteland probably heralds the start of a resurgence in the the Church's contribution to the common good. They are not harbingers of its immanent demise.

A vacuum is unnatural. If the Christian religious institutions are allowed to fall by the wayside there is a high likelihood that Islam an organised religion backed by Middle Eastern oil money will come to dominate the religious landscape and fill the vacuum.

The large number of mosques springing up all over are a sign of things to come. What's wrong with this? A religion of peace has been hijacked by bigots and is used to mislead poor misguided souls into committing suicidal mayhem. May God save us from religion.

I can only make a comparative comment on Catholicism in the UK, Belgium, France and Poland (all countries I have lived in). By far the most active currently is Poland but here there is a clear evolution towards a more questioning and open Catholicism. Church attendances are slowly declining, especially in the cities. People are increasingly becoming resentful at Church interference in the body politic.

Furthermore, negative feelings are becoming increasingly viisible since the most recent Preidential election when the RC Church clearly actively backed one of the two catholic candidates and subsequently took an ostrich like head buried in the sand stance when extremist catholic fundamentalists started protesting outside the Presidential palace. Support for the Church is largely restricted to the more backward parts of the country, especially the coutryside and small towns and villages in the east.

The complete lack of response to the pedofile issue, the ultra conservatism concerning in vitro, contraception and same sex partnerships, the nonpayment by it of taxes and the fact that the Church has become the country's largest property landowner is resulting in resentment and resistance to Church teaching. No revolution but most certainly an evolution in attitudes is picking up pace.

Poland currently reminds me of Belgium 20 years ago or the France of my childhood 50 years ago. As to the UK it bears no comparison as Catholicism is in an absolute minority.

I think the article is a fairly accurate description of the situation in which the Catholic church finds itself. However I have two issues with it. First the Catholic church has always seen the human person as a social being. Hence it could not follow the equineannie path to a one on one relationship with Christ, something which reflects the modern economic social order. I relate as an individual, standing alone before the market place. As a social being the goal of the individual is to the common good, and society, to God's role in the history of human salvation. I therefore see the decline of the Church as being due to the loss of this Aristelean vision of the common good. In fact the Catholic church has itself lost this view in an effort to fit into the modern world. Secondly I see the article somehow assuming that the way forward is to go back to the latin mass, and charismatic individual "doers" of good. This is of course no solution. I believe that the only way forward is for the church to re-examine itself from the bottom up. In this regard Rome has taken all the cards into its hands. There was a time when issues such as abortion, the pill, and so on could be openly discussed by theologians, and individual catholics were free to follow the opinions that espoused by a number of such theologians. Hence a vibrant debate characterized the church's relationship with the changing world. Such theologians have been hounded out of the church. This is why I say, the church has to be renewed from below. The vatican has nothing to offer. The bishops that stood by and allowed priests to abuse the young should all be fired. Let's start over. This of course will not happen. End of story.

An accurate article but in Spain the Catholic Church is now much weaker than you indicate.It still holds some sway with the conservative Partido Popular but its hold on the younger generation is negligible

Did early man create God for his own selfish reasons? An escape valve from all the tribulations & hardships facing our ancestors? A hope against hope?

Catholicism like Islam is an anachronism, still mired in the Middle Ages in many ways. But unlike the iron fist that Islam rules its fold, the Catholic Church has adapted & evolved slowly & imperceptably, from its absolute theocratic & hierarchical roots.

But sadly the true message of Christ, the Prince of Peace, viz: "To love thy neighbor as thyself" was lost in translation or fell by the wayside after his passing.

Catholicism like other so called Christian denominations, is only "Christian" in name, not in practise. Just a superficial collection of meaningless rituals & traditions, that have lost all relevance in this day & age.

Indeed, the requiem bells are ceaselessly tolling for Catholicism in Europe.

What's happening in the diocese of Thiberville, France is a microcosm of what's been taking place all over Europe for several decades now.

One can infer from this apocalyptic trend for Catholicism in Europe that religion in general and Catholicism in particular has to beat an inevitable and irreversible retreat as people are able to a acquire a good liberal secular education which makes it possible for them to draw conclusions regarding religious dogmas which are not consistent with reason.

Catholicism, morever, has only itself to blame for (a) the rampant and even worldwide heinous sexual abuse cases committed brazenly by Catholic priests against thousands of trusting and virtually helpless Catholic children, not only in Europe but also in the United States; but also for (b)the bizarre way cardinals and bishops have routinely dealt with those sexual-abuse cases, which has been, as a rule, to sweep them quickly under the rug and just pay the victims and their families, all because the more important thing was and still is "to protect the reputation of the Church."

The Philippines must be unique among all Christian nations in that there Catholicism is not only very much alive and well, with some 85 percent of 92 million Filipinos still professing to be Catholics--though many are only nominally so--but there the Catholic Church possesses the kind of political clout which enables it virtually to dictate policy to the Government, openly and brazenly, even on purely public and secular issues.

I agree with Campbell: you overstate the Church's influence in Spain, making it sound just a little less influential than in, say, Italy, when in fact Spanish society is infinitely more secular and progressive than Italian or (say) Portuguese society. In fact, the Church's alliance with Franco thoroughly discredited it in Spain (probably forever). You make legalization of gay marriage sound humdrum: with 70% popular support, this is a phenomenon; only Holland and Belgium have similar laws in Europe (compare not just with the rest of Catholic Europe, but Protestant, even Scandinavian Europe). As for the PP, what can I say?: some members of the PP (not by any means all: there are moderate and classically liberal wings that hold their nose at the Church's interventionism of late) have cultivated a public relations alliance with certain key members of the Church's upper echelons and Church-sponsored media to wear the Socialists down. It's not evident that this strategy hasn't already backfired (especially among the young and women) or that it won't continue to work against the PP's (and the Church's) interests. In any case, the Church hierarchy is itself divided at the top and, most especially, between the upper ranks and the--much more socially conscious--lower ranks. You miss the most interesting phenomenon of all in Spain in the past 20 years: the blossoming of a lay Catholicism among the young that turns its back on preoccupations with dogma, ritual, and moral policing and gives itself over to socially-conscious volunteer and charity work. I'd say we're seeing (a very healthy) revival of the Gospel message across broad sectors of Spanish society, which--if asked--would regard the Church's more reactionary archibishops as pharisees (and dinosaurs). To the extent the Spanish Church allows itself to be defined by the media shock jocks and the Roucos it will drive the last nail in its own coffin.

That so many in modern secular Europe are distancing themselves from the Catholic Church completely giving up their identity as Catholic is no surprise. What is most interesting is how many of those who still consider themselves nominally Catholic do not adhere some of the most important Catholic positions - particularly the controversial questions about sex, reproduction, women's equality, etc. These people may call themselves Catholic, but if they are Catholic, then the Chinese are still Communist.

What I'd be interested to know is what these nominal Catholics think of the the most important questions of dogma, the really hard to believe mystical things such as the crucifixion and the resurrection, the immaculate conception and the virgin birth, etc.

From what I understand, one of the things most important to the Catholic Church is its universality and totality in its belief an worship. One cannot decide to have a worship ceremony that deviates from the official standard or reject certain key positions. Sure they may still call themselves Catholics, but are they really? You can call yourself a man or a woman, an American or a European, but only one of these is likely to be true - no matter what you say.

Many Jews still consider themselves Jewish without practicing or believing all what is typically taught by that faith. Similarly perhaps some of these fallen Catholics can still embrace their cultural Christianity without being compelled to adhere to all the theology and dogma. From my perspective, even if I cannot accept all the dogma and theological components that were presented to me in my upbringing, I still cannot deny how certain Catholic / Christian lessons and values have shaped my character. All the mystical questions notwithstanding, one could do much worse than Jesus Christ for a fine teacher of peace, humility and humanity. As this article notes, many Christians have found inspiration from outside their faith (i.e. Gandhi). Similarly some of Christ's ideas might worthy of consideration for non-Christians even if they are not convinced by the theological or interested in joining the religion. After living in one of least religious places I can imagine, I was amazed how ignorant the people were of some of the basic stories from the bible - regardless if they actually belong to the religion. Somehow it still should be part of the European cultural canon. It is as if an educated person had no idea what Shakespeare, Goethe, Plato, Kant or Marx was about. Funny that I mention Marx; from my education in Western Europe and the United States I have read more and have more familiarity with Marx than the typical young eastern German. How times have changed!